1. Corrugating structures and testing them to failure
Stronger Structures
Corrugating structures and testing them to failure

2. Square card with fold lines
Shape 1 – Making a cuboid
Square card with fold lines
Make four equally spaced fold lines on a square piece of card.
Fold inwards along each line to form a hollow cuboid.
Stick a piece of masking tape along the full length of the point where the end card pieces meet, to join them.
Cuboid
Teacher should pre-prepare square pieces of thin card 210 mm x 210 mm. Do not use corrugated card as learners will be corrugating themselves later in the activity. Learners could place a ruler along each fold line to make it easier to fold accurately.
Masking tape

3. Square card with fold lines
Shape 2 – Making a prism
Square card with fold lines
Make three equally spaced fold lines on a square piece of card.
Fold inwards along each line to form a hollow triangular prism.
Stick a piece of masking tape along the full length of the point where the end card pieces meet, to join them.
Prism
Teacher should pre-prepare square pieces of thin card 210 mm x 210 mm. Do not use corrugated card as learners will be corrugating themselves later in the activity. Learners could place a ruler along each fold line to make it easier to fold accurately.
Masking tape

4. Shape 3 – Making a cylinder
Masking tape
Fold a square piece of card inwards to form a hollow cylinder.
Stick a piece of masking tape along the full length of the point where the end card pieces meet, to join them.
Teacher should pre-prepare square pieces of thin card 210 mm x 210 mm. Do not use corrugated card as learners will be corrugating themselves later in the activity. Learners could place a ruler along each fold line to make it easier to fold accurately.

5. Load testing each structure
Books
For each shaped structure that you have built:
Place books on top of the structure, one at a time.
Write down how many books can sit on top of the structure before it fails.
Which is the strongest and which is the weakest structure?
It is best if the structures are stood on the floor for testing, as the books will fall off when failure occurs.
This type of testing is called ‘destructive testing’ – testing the structure to failure. The table shown on the next slide can be used to record results. To ensure fair testing, learners should use the same books and place them on top in the same order for each structure (as some may have more mass than others). Instead of books, lab weights could be used. The table shown on the next slide can be used as a handout to record results.

6. Number of books that can be placed on top before failure
Results of structural testing
Shape
Number of books that can be placed on top before failure
Cuboid (square top)
Prism (triangular top)
Cylinder (circular top)
This table can be used as a handout to record results.

7. Strengthening card strips
Reinforcing each structure
Cut 210 mm long strips of card that would fit exactly through the centre of each shape.
Place the strips of card through the centre of each shape and tape in place.
Repeat the load testing. What difference does this reinforcing make?
Add further reinforcement and test its effect.
Strengthening card strips
The reinforcing of each structure is effectively ‘corrugating’ the card to strengthen it. Teacher could also discuss the effects of triangulation with learners. As an extension, learners could plot their results on an appropriate graph, such as a bar chart.

8. Example cuboid made by a learner
Non-strengthened
Strengthened